


Ashes of a Phoenix

by alkatie



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Canon Universe, Fire Lord Zuko, Fire Nation Royal Family, Iroh helps, Manipulation, Ozai (Avatar) Being a Terrible Parent, Zuko is confused, canoncompliant au, nothing is what it seems, ozai plots the end of the war, translation from german, unbetaed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-12
Updated: 2019-06-12
Packaged: 2020-05-01 22:47:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19186852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alkatie/pseuds/alkatie
Summary: "Fine! Fine! I swear by my fire, honor and name to keep your legacy. Happy now?”------------A member of the royal family has sacrificed everything to end the war.





	Ashes of a Phoenix

**Author's Note:**

> This is a unbetaed translation of the first fic I ever wrote for this fandom, so it has a few sentences which won't quite flow. Nevertheless, please enjoy!

-o0O0o-

„For Spirits sake, what in the name of all seven hells are you doing here!“  
He slammed the door shut behind him. This conservation was not meant for the ears of these peasants out there. The old man behind the bars raised his head. Agni, he had aged decades in the last three years. They had been hard on him as well.

“A beautiful evening to you, as well, brother.”

He ignored him and the urge to breath fire.

“We had an agreement, Iroh! Why is the boy here! With a dead Avatar!”

“Apparently we both underestimated the love of a son for his father.”

Ozai froze.

“What,” he croaked barely audible. “He… he still...?”

Iroh nodded.   
The Fire Lord sunk down on the floor and ran his hands though his meticulously styled hair. “After everything...? He…? Oh Agni!”

Iroh sighted. “I wished Lu-Ten  had loved me as much as he loves you.”

“But he must not! This boy is the most stubborn, tenacious, blind Idiot I have ever seen!”

Iroh chuckled. “Ecxept from your face in the Mirror. But I shamefully admit, I nearly had him ready. Until our dear Azula turned up and ruined everything. You taught her well. Too well.”

“One for Sozin, one for Roku, you know that. And it was your duty to open his eyes, dammit! I have burned half my own sons face of! And you are telling me for nothing!”

“Your Plan, not mine.”

He jumped up. “Oh, of course! The great General Iroh! His plan would have worked, right? His precious Lu-Ten would have corrected everything, would have been the perfect Fire Lord for peace. Well, to bad, your perfect little Boy saw that different. And had been so angry and disgusted at his father, he couldn’t concentrate enough to dodge a tiny rock-!

“Don’t you dare! Don’t you dare, Ozai. You were the one who didn’t think things through and acted  too rash, so we lost Ursa. Because of you we even needed to come up with this scheme-!”

“Don’t you dare to say her-“

“Don’t you dare to say his name,” thundered the Dragon of the West. Then he closed his eyes and buried his head in his hands. “Thoughtless and rash. Another thing he inherited from you.”

“Is he… really this similar to me?”

“You would know, if you’d actually speak with him.”

“And destroy the whole plan? Me, treating my son, my firstborn dishonorably and like dirt over the course of six years for nothing!”

“Stop that childish tantrum, or do you think that impresses me like your weak minded underlings, Zai-zai?”

Ozai sill threw him that icy look out of his golden eyes which had anybody else growling at his feet. Then he sighted a small flame and pressed the back of his nose with thumb and index finger to calm himself down.  
“All right. Facts. He refuses to see what the Firenation does to the world. He refuses to follow his spirit given destiny. You say, he’s as stubborn as me. What are you doing when you need to show me things I do not like, so I am not able to ignore them?”

Iroh grinned, obviously remembering a lot of those occasions. “Presenting accomplished facts and giving you no other choice than to act on these, of course, dear brother.”  
Then he sobered up.  “But I already tried. He stumbled, nothing more. It seemed he had changed, but then his sister came and, well” – he gestured around him-“ you know how that turned out.”

“Did you tell him who he is?”

Iroh shook his head. “ Even if, I don’t think it changes anything.”

“But he stumbled.”

“Ozai. It didn’t work.”

The Fire Lord closed his eyes. Oh Agni.  
“If I present accomplished facts, it will.”

“You. Want to tell him, that Roku was Ursa’s grandfather.”

“No. But I can present the fact that the Firenation is wrong. That this is all madness.”

Ozai?” He sounded unsure, but warning. “What-?”

“It’s not important. Tomorrow, Roku’s Hairpiece will be brought to you and I will arrange everything, so he will come to you and ask. You will cause him to stumble. I will make sure he falls.”

Iroh grabbed the hem of his robes though the bars. “No! Ozai! I don’t know what you are planning, but I know it’s too much! Stop it! You have done enough. You are neither Sozin, nor father!”

Ozai nodded. “You’re right. I am me. So let me end it my way. I can still be punished, and this madness will finally end there and then.”

Iroh lowered his head and let go. “A true Fire Lord then, hn?”

Ozai turned to the door. This was it. They would never see each other again. And yet he only growled: “ Mind the eclipse, brother.”  
And Iroh nodded and understood is as the valediction, he wasn’t able to formulate.

-o0O0o-

Cold. So cold. He stared at the wall, coiled into himself with his hands tightly pressed around his legs, ignoring the opening and closing of the door. He wasn’t going to say anything, no matter how much the boy begged. He couldn’t say anything.  
The rustling of clothing, the shuffling of a body sitting down on the floor, the soft chinks of a tea service. Why did Zuko think it made things better. The boy probably needed it to convince himself that he treated his own kin with civil- rose hip?  
The- as he always hated to admit- wonderful smell of freshly brewed high quality tea started to fill the cell. And there was only one person who knew of his …foible for that one specific type of tea.

He slowly turned and nearly snorted at the irony when he saw Iroh sitting in front of his bars, filling the reed liquid in two cups. He passed one through the bars without a word and Ozai clanged to the warmth with both hands, pressing it to his chest like a man freezing to death. It felt so good, even if it was nothing to the once burning wildfire in his chest and just barely drove away the cold.  
They sat for what felt like an eternity, sipping tea and avoided each others eyes. Ozai concentrated on the golden embroidery on the green clothing and tried to figure out why the Dragon of the West of all People was wearing Earth Kingdom clothing. Iroh seemed to notice his stare and finally said something. “I own a little tea shop in Ba-Sing-Se.”

“You. In Ba-Sing-Se. The world turned even crazier, than I thought.”

“It is… It is just as you always dreamed, Ozai. It ‘s amazing. You.. you should be out there with us, not here like… this.” He  fell silent and starred into his cup.

“Humiliated? Crippled?  Rotting like the scum I am,” the  former Fire Lord supplied bitterly.

Iroh closed his eyes and nodded. “It hurts. To be near you. As if there’s a black whole sucking up every little bit of warmth. It’s wrong. Terribly wrong. I’m so sorry they did this to you, brother. I should’ve never let it come to this. To take someone’s bending-“

“Oh shut it, Iroh.” Then softer: “You know I hate that. You weren’t able to change anything, anyway.”

“You have been able to change it, dammit! How do you even get the mad idea of burning a whole nation down, again!”

“Ask Azula. Not me. And how should I’ve known this…. child was capable of doing this? I expected a quick, clean death not livelong torture. He’s an Air Nomad. Or are they really as cruel as Sozin always-“  
“No, “ Iroh interrupted. “ No. After forty years, you won’t suddenly start to believe those lies, would you!  Ozai, listen. Listen to me. He. Does. Not. Know. He has no idea what he truly did to you. And the way I know Aang, it would destroy him if he finds out. For him it’s the perfect solution. He didn’t need to kill. You’re alive and can’t be a martyr but still can’t harm anyone anymore.”

“In other words, he’s holding his own principles higher than the needs of the world. Not what you would expect from the Avatar. And I’m called a monster.”

“He’s barely thirteen. And you might think different, but that is not an age anybody should wear a burden like this. He still has a lot to learn. I promise you, I’ll see that he will.”

“That’s not the reason you’re here.”

“Well, I’m here to visit my brother and share a cup of tea, so he’s not that lonely.”

“I’ve been alone my whole life.”

“Well’ I won’t certainly not allow you to completely rot in this cell.”

Ozai rose his eyebrows. “Swear to me he’ll never know, Iroh. Never.”

His brother sighted, then smiled and refilled his cup. “Did I ever told you of the Sun Warriors?”

“Iroh!”

“Fine! Fine! I swear by my fire, honor and name to keep your legacy. Happy now?”

Ozai nodded slowly, mulling over the words in search for loopholes but finding nothing.

Pleased, Iroh grined. “Now. Back to the Sun Warriors and the Masters Ran and Shaw. You won’t believe it, but…..”

 

-o0O0o-

“Where”, snarled Fire Lord Zuko and slammed the door shut behind him. The Kyoshi Warriors didn’t need to hear this.

Behind the bars Ozai rose is head and blinked with his still sharp golden eyes though his now snow white hair. “Your Majesty. What an honor after all this time.”

“Shut it, Ozai! Just shut it! You’ve done enough for today! That you even dare!”

At the age of36, this Fire Lord had nothing in common with the unsure sputtering boy, crawling back to him at the beginning of his reign. Confident, strong, but kind. And yet still that hellish temper if pushed too far. The personification fire itself, just as it needed to be. The Fire Lord their Nation not only needed, but deserved. Ozai was so incredibly proud.

“What misdeeds in the world have I caused this time, mylord?”

Instead of answering, a scroll hit him square in the face. Ouch.

“Where is it! Where is his will. His real one! I knew you can forge them! Perhaps not how, but I know you can! So-” He bent close to the bars, hovering over him in a very satisfying terrifying way. “ Where. Is, Irohs. Last. Will!”

Iroh’s….

Iroh’s will…

Ozai looked up in the eyes of his son and couldn’t say anything. Wouldn’t say anything.  
Cold. It was so cold.  
He wanted to coil into himself, protecting himself from that terribly inner cold, the Avatar had left him with. But he couldn’t.  Not in front of Zuko. For him, he needed to be strong. Be the Monster, he was.  But something must have betrayed him. Zuko’s single eyebrow furrowed.  
“You didn’t know,” he observed softly.

“No.” Ozai found back to his mocking voice. “No, but what a glorious day for my nation to be finally freed from that tea brained failure. Why don’t you follow him, as you always do.” _Forgive me, brother.  
_

“I… never noticed how bad of a liar you are.”

“What?” Ozai croaked irritated. What was that supposed to mean? Did the boy turn crazy, too?

“You’re a perfect Illusionist, but if one discovers that, that will all it ever be. Illusions.  That’s why you always used the truth to manipulate. Contary to Azulas lies, I always knew you said the truth- your truth.”  
With every word his voice became quieter, until he was completely silent. Ozai was speechless.  
Had he… Did he know?

“Is it true,” Zuko asked.

“What,” the old man growled back.

Zuko gulped. “ That…. That everything was a plan?  That you did all this… to stop the war?”  
He barely whispered.

Ozai immediately took the loophole. “Of course! The destruction of the Earth Kingdom under Sozin’s Comet had brought us to victory and a permanent end to our glorious conquest to-”

Zuko interrupted. “I’m talking about you hatching plans since before my birth to stop the war because you saw it as senseless, and later convincing Iroh to join them.”

Ozai gulped but immediately caught himself. “Senseless?  The war our forefathers had started to spread the greatness of our glorious-“

“Could you please for once stop emptily repeating that disgusting propaganda like a broken gramophone!”

Ozai hesitated. “What’s a gramophone?”

Zuko was prepared for everything except that question. He blinked surprised, before he answered. “A gramophone? That’s a device to…. Never mind. Not Important, right now.”  
Again he was reminded of how long of a time twenty years in prison already were. Ozai had no Idea of the recent technical developments.

Zuko sighted a small flame and pressed the back of his nose with thumb and index finger to calm himself down.  
“Was it all a farce, father? Is this really Irohs will and you are that honorable man he speaks of so respectfully?

He called him father. Of his own will. For the first time in nineteen years.  
Keeping his legacy. Iroh really did….  
That stupid, noble-heated, tea drinking, mad, weak dork of a brother.

“I did whatever was necessary for my nation,” he finally answered, his gaze on the floor. Dammit, he grew old.  
Grew weak. Couldn’t even held up his own oaths. Then again he did swear by his fire and that was long gone. So…. Why not?  
His pathetic existence would end in the foreseeable future, anyway and if the boy knew, perhaps… Yes, perhaps he would replace one day the irregular but miserably soothing visits of his brother, which he in his weakened pitiful state did somehow started to enjoy?  
No. Never. Those thoughts were just another testimony to how low he really had sunken.  
Iroh, his hated but still honored brother. With his stupid tea, the only thing that warmed him in this cruel cold reality without his bending. Something wet dipped on his hand.  
He blinked irritated. Was that….?  
Oh, Agni. As if he wasn’t humiliated enough.

The boy sunk down on the floor and crossed his legs, eying him with big golden orbs and the same astonishment in them as the day he first saw ember island. So he didn’t lose that either over everything Ozai had done to him.

“What’s there to gawp at,” Ozai snarled, but his voice broke.

“There’s… nothing shameful in mourning a person you love,” mumbled Zuko carefully, with the same calculating expression like Iroh.

“I was never able to feel love,” the ex- Fire Lord countered shortly. But that stupid tears still run down his cheek slowly and one by one, and just. Wouldn’t. Stop.  Not even his own body obeyed him anymore.

Zuko nodded. “I know.”  
An observation. No rage or mourning, not as before. Simply clear acceptance.  
And that long buried guild surfaced again. But Ozai never learned to apologize, did not want to apologize because everything had been right. Even if he needed to hurt his boy like that. So he simply whispered: “You’re my son.”

Zuko shook his head in determination. “No.”

“Yes. You’re my son. Always have been. And Always will be.” He stretched out the scroll. “Destroy this. I can’t anymore. P-please.” He added hesitantly.

Zuko raised his eyebrow in surprise and reached for the scroll with this unbelievable content. That he did mean something to that heartless monster in the cage before him. And considering that, turned what this monster just said from the mockery of not being any different into… into…

Zuko gulped and reached unconsciously for his scar. “Do you… regret it?”

“No.” Calm and serious. Then: “Because you have learned everything from it I wished to teach you.  The way I did, might have been wr… ill-conceived. Maybe.”  
Tell him, Iroh’s voice whispered in his head. He deserves it.  
“A Father… does not burn his son’s face.”  
He fell silent and stubbornly stared up into Zuko’s golden eyes, so identical in form and color but never his.

“You knew all the time it had been wrong,” whispered Zuko.

"Yes," he answered nonchalantly, voice colder than he felt. Finally some control was back.

Zuko disbelievingly shook his head and started pacing. Then he stopped and stare at the scroll. “I won’t destroy it,” he declared.

He raised his head and waved absently with the scroll, his voice shaking. “This. I… This is everything, I ever wanted, father. Everything!”

For the first time, Ozai smiled, and Zuko visibly recoiled with a shudder. This was the same melancholic, true smile, which Iroh always had shown. Which Zuko saw of photographs of himself and in the occasional mirror he passed in the palace. Not that twisted, nearly baring of teeth, he came to know of him.

“I know. And believe me, when you told me your opinion on the day of the black sun, it was one of the happiest moments in my life.”

“You bended LIGHTING at me!”

“Iroh ensured me, you were able to redirect it.”

“You are insane, Ozai!”

Ozai swayed his head from the left to the right and back. “That’s why I’m in this cell and you on the throne. Everybody where he belongs.”

Zuko’s eyes danced from the scroll to him and back, then he abruptly turned and marched to the door.  “Coming here was a mistake.”

“Destiny is a funny thing with the ways it sets us upon, son.”  
Zuko flinched in the door, but didn’t turn and slammed it closed behind him.  
Ozai closed his eyes and mumbled something. Zuko, with his incredible hearing, could hear the whispered words even in the following corridor and clenched the scroll and fought the urge not to burn it here and now.

-o0O0o-

Nobody understood why Fire Lord Zuko granted the tyrant Ozai the full ceremonial burial of a Fire Lord nine years later.  
People rushed in from all over the world to convince themselves of the death of the last monster who set the world aflame. Many of the thousands of spectators  grew visibly concerned once they saw the dedication offered by the reigning Fire Lord to the dead, as he slowly took step by step in white clothing behind the carriage transporting the corpse though the streets of the capital.  
But nothing happened. Zuko stayed the same advocator for peace and harmony with no sudden plans to take over the world or other signs of madness and so this weird occurrence got lost to time, just a foot-note dedicated to his love and mercy for even the ones who hurt him as much as this monster did.  
Only ninety years later Fire Lord Iroh II discovered a scroll in the belongings of his late grandfather with such incredibly content, he instantly sealed it away and hid it in the Dragonbone Catacombs for the world to never see it again. Because this scroll were the glowing ashes of a Phoenix who must never rise again.

**Author's Note:**

> In the Development of ATLA apparently there was a story line where Iroh worked for Ozai the whole time and should turn in the finale on Zuko. I’m very glad that didn’t happen, as it would have ruined the whole show. Still, Iroh does have a tendency to manipulate in the show, even if it’s for good. And that plot bunny just wouldn’t leave. He was the favorite, the crown prince, Azulon’s Son. People were afraid of him.  
> Ozai on the other hand is a good villain. In this age of where everybody needs a deeper hidden motivation and need to be understood, even if you can’t identify with him, he’s the one who has simple motivation of just wanting to see the world burn- literally. There’re people like that out there. However in this fic that changed, because I needed a reason why Iroh manipulates. And as a person living under mental abuse for a long time, let me tell you. A man who knows he’s wrong and terrible, and yet pulls through is far scarier. Those people you can’t tell they are wrong to stop them because they now. All you can do is turn away and not look back.


End file.
